The Cocoanut Grove
Seascape Flowers
Hollins House
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Alexis Party Rental
Music Now DJ
Santa Cruz Good Times
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Feb 09th
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Bridal Expo
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A Taste of Santa Cruz
Welcome
We welcome you to our seventh annual ‘A Taste of Santa Cruz’ fundraising event!
The Santa Cruz Association of REALTORS® Housing Foundation (SCAORHF) is thrilled to invite you to this fun and tasty event on Nov. 3 at the Cocoanut Grove. This year we are welcoming back many of the restaurants that have consistently offered flavorful samplings from their menus during the past few years and excitedly await the cuisine being planned this year from our new entries.
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GTActive
Welcome to the premier issue of GTActive, your guide to health, fitness and the great outdoors. Certainly, when you think of Santa Cruz County, there is a great deal to experience in each of those areas. We’re known for good health, sure, but we’re better known for how progressive we are in the health field. Fitness? No shortage here. Fitness, in fact, ties in quite nicely to all that we have available to us outdoors. So, our goal in this first issue was to spotlight as many amazing things as we could—inside and out. Dive in. *click* for full pdf >
Embrace good health. Enjoy the experience.
Greg Archer, Editor
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Home & Garden Expo 2011
Welcome to the Central Coast Home & Garden Expo 2011. We are very excited to bring you this wonderful expo as spring is in the air and it is time for home improvement projects, planting in the garden and preparing culinary treats for friends and family. We have some great vendors along with ongoing presentations on three stages. Come learn from The Monterey Bay Master Gardeners, Katia and Alex of the VIVAGardens Radio Show and many more including an antique auction appraisal.
Saturday and Sunday at The Cocoanut Grove
Adults $3 • Children 12 and under free
Free plant for the first 200 people. Fabulous Door Prizes, Home & Garden Gifts
Click here for the complete Home & Garden Expo 2011 program >
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2011 Bridal Expo
Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay Area offer some of the most unique and stunning wedding venues in the world. Whether you picture yourself barefoot on the beach, in a traditional dress at a local church, or dancing under the redwoods, there are hundreds of options to fit your style and budget.
Planning your wedding should be a wonderful adventure, and, with the right experts on your team, it will be. Our area is lucky to have an abundance of creative, skilled professionals, excited to share their knowledge and make your life a lot easier.
The 2011 Bridal Expo brings more than 100 vendors together under one roof to help make the process a little easier. You’ll see gorgeous bridal fashions, stunning photography, fantastic cakes, and amazing décor. You’ll also get to sample food from top caterers, and meet the talented people who can work their magic for you.
And you might even win a valuable door prize, including $1,000 cash. (Tip: Bring your own return address labels to easily sign up for the many prize drawings.) Bring your best friend and make a day of it! Grab the full event guide in this weeks' Good Times.
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AMGEN Tour of California Stage 3
Tour Links
AMGEN Tour of California >
Stage 3, Finish: Santa Cruz >
Route Map >
Good Times Cover Story: Wheel Power >
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MORE THAN WORDS? GT’s first issue published April 3, 1975. The main story: Randall Kane opens a new music venue, dubbed The Catalyst. That same year, Kuumbwa Jazz Center opened its doors.
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35 Years Later, the ‘Times’ Are Still GOOD
Well … it’s good to be 35. And what a ride! More than 35 volumes and 1,820 issues later, founder Jay Shore’s original idea for a weekly newspaper continues to venture forth into the second decade of the 21st century—and still operating right in the heart of Downtown Santa Cruz, thanks to you, the loyal readers. Hard to believe that back in 1975, Shore borrowed money from relatives to launch the paper, an offspring of an earlier incarnation dubbed Santa Cruz Times, but his vision to spotlight mostly the “good” around town sent out a creative ripple effect. Along the way, prolific scribes came (and went).
MORE THAN WORDS? GT’s first issue published April 3, 1975. The main story: Randall Kane opens a new music venue, dubbed The Catalyst. That same year, Kuumbwa Jazz Center opened its doors.
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Central Coast Home & Garden Expo 2010
Inside:
Monterey Bay Master Gardeners
Solar Technologies
Knox Roofing
Skeeter Marazzo and The Foodies
Jozseph Schultz
Liquid BioTech
Grab the complete Expo guide in thie week's Good Times
Hello, and welcome to the Central Coast Home & Garden Expo 2010.
We are very excited to bring you this wonderful expo as spring is in the air and it is time for home improvement projects, planting in the garden and hosting culinary treats for friends and family.
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Commute Solutions
Your resource for sustainable transportation options
Commuting. How often do you find yourself sitting in traffic, blocking out the smell of exhaust and intermittent honking by turning up the radio? This daily adventure has many commuters looking for options. If all drivers cut out one work trip per week, there would be 20 percent less weekday traffic at peak hours. With such a significant reduction in cars on the road, rush hour would be less rushed, saving the planet and endless frustrations.
There are plenty of reasons to look into commuting options. With gas up to three dollars a gallon again, saving money is critical, considering the current economic downturn. Of course, gas isn’t the only expense that drivers incur. Besides maintenance, insurance, registration fees and the occasional accident, driving costs soar when road repair and environmental factors impacting all taxpayers are considered. Taxes and fees imposed at the pump were only able to cover 64 percent of the $64.6 billion that improvements and repairs cost the U.S. in 2000, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This leaves over $23 billion that must be funded by the state and other local sources. [See the online Commuter Resolution pledge or print version]
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Bridal Expo & Good Times guide to wedding planning
Tips on wedding planning from:
Cocoanut Grove
Feast for a King Catering
Minister Christine Jones
Heidi Hughett, The Couture House
The Buttery
Monterey Bay Laser Aesthetics
Jewels on Pacific
A Festive Affair
Get the Bridal Expo 2010 insert in this Good Times this week complete with exhibitor map and booth listings
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Heart Surgery For UC
Regents spare classes—for now—and drain staff healthcare surpluses instead Gov. Jerry Brown announced a $100 million mid-year cut to the 10-campus University of California system in December, just as UC Santa Cruz staff and students left for winter break. UCSC's share of the cut is $6.5 million, but no classes will be affected through the end of the current school year.
Hometown Glory
Chris Rene welcomed back to Santa Cruz with open arms at ‘Love Life’ event On Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012—a day that Mayor Don Lane announced would officially be referred to as Chris Rene Day in Santa Cruz—the local hero took the stage of the sold-out Civic Auditorium to celebrate his homecoming and give something back to the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that made his recent success possible. The rapper/songwriter and Santa Cruz native is coming off a year that saw him finish in the top three on the first season of FOX’s The X Factor, and enthusiasm for his return was evident in the line of fans that stretched around the block of the auditorium, hours before its doors opened. Many fans carried signs and wore homemade T-shirts featuring words of solidarity for the artist, including his catch phrase, “Love Life.”
Meter Moratorium Continues
Board of Supervisors votes to continue opposition of SmartMeter installations Late last year, the already loud local outcry over SmartMeters rang out even louder, as some residents took matters into their own hands and removed meters from their homes. The action led to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) shutting off several of these residents’ power. Following a flood of public concern at its Dec. 13 meeting, the County Board of Supervisors directed the county’s public health officer, Poki Stewart Namkung, to return on Jan. 24 with an analysis of one month’s research on the health effects of the wireless meters.
Pushing the Envelope
‘What Is Erotic?’ makes its seventh run at The 418 ll through history, artists have been pushing us to examine our views of what is and isn’t erotic, with subjects ranging from the relatively tame (Francisco Goya’s “La Maja Desnuda”) to the extremely challenging (Mapplethorpe’s photography, Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”). Santa Cruz keeps this tradition alive via “What Is Erotic?”a festive and daring fundraiser for The 418 Project. Themed “In the Boudoir,” this year’s event—the seventh overall—hits The 418 on the weekends before and after Valentine’s Day. The fun, bawdy character of “What Is Erotic?” will be evident right from the Pre-Show Erotic Salon: Staying in character, the actors will playfully interact with audience members. Moondance O’Brien, one of this year’s performers, reveals that the show’s cast and crew refers to the members of this “welcoming committee” as “fluffers.” “Some people might be feather ticklers; some people might be reciting poetry; some people might be offering spankings,” she explains. Other performers will hand-feed chocolate-dipped strawberries to audience members. All such interaction is consent-oriented, but O’Brien ventures that “the majority of people who come to this show have a sense of what they’re going to experience. They’re pretty eager.”
Katie Ekin
It’s hard to believe that 20-year-old folk pop singer-songwriter Katie Ekin’s years in the music industry can be counted on a single hand. She picked up acoustic guitar five years ago, played her first show three years ago, and debuted her seven-track, self-titled EP in December 2010. Inspired by music of the ’50s and ’60s, Ekin—whose vocal range is naturally as melodious as a songbird (see track three, “Cuckoo”)—has a keen understanding of love, astutely arranged in the lyrics of her songs. “I love oldies … the fun, pop-feeling, sock hop,” confesses Ekin. Aside from Carole King and Lesley Gore, singer of “It’s My Party,” her influences include Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, The Beatles and The Beach Boys, whose music was regularly played by her father throughout her childhood. “My dad is just such a fun person, and every time I’d see him perform when I was little, he had the best stage presence,” remembers Ekin. “I gain confidence from being on stage and I relate that back to my dad.” It is onstage that Ekin feels most comfortable expressing herself. “My main thing has always been love,” she says. “In high school, I wouldn’t really tell people how I felt—I put it in a song.” Her vulnerability is especially evident in “Underneath the Christmas Tree,” a song in which she asks her crush, “Won’t you be my present, baby?” The feel-good track is so irresistible, with Ekin’s sweet and sultry voice, that Zooey Deschanel herself would be proud to own the copyrights. Head to The Abbey two days before Valentine’s Day to hear Ekin belt out several original love songs, while accompanying herself on ukulele and guitar. Given the holiday, Ekin is planning an upbeat set that is, in her own words, “not so heartbreaking—I’ll try to keep it on a happy theme.” INFO: 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12. The Abbey, 350 Mission St., Santa Cruz. No cover. 429-1058.
Dancing Queen
The late, legendary German dancer/choreographer Pina Bausch is the subject of Pina, an utterly thrilling cinematic tribute by Wim Wenders. "You always felt more than just human, working with Pina," recalls one of her dancers, and this is more than just a documentary, or a dance film, or a memorial. Wenders crafts an extraordinary plunge into the mystery of the creative process, a visionary concept film that reinvents the way dance is viewed onscreen, and a wildly invigorating expedition into the soul of an artist.
Metamorphosis
Bill Veltrop—social visionary, leading architect of organizational design and the revered local who believes the next big thing isn’t a ‘thing’ Every morning Bill Veltrop rises at 4 a.m. and enters into a meditation and conversation with the Universe. By mid-morning, he’s either working on a project or holding a workshop. It’s 10 a.m. now, but before Veltrop proceeds with our interview he clangs together two golden meditation chimes and the three people in the room with him breathe in unison. Slowly the resonance fades to silence. The group is invited to recap their thoughts, hopes and stresses in a ritual Veltrop calls “stringing the beads.”
Inside Occupy Santa Cruz
Public nuisance or radical experiment in direct democracy? The mood at Occupy Santa Cruz (OSC) General Assembly meetings was angry and defiant early last month, especially after protesters heard eyewitness accounts of the violence in Oakland and Berkeley. But the atmosphere became noticeably calmer and less defensive after the City of Santa Cruz’s injunction to shut down OSC was appealed to federal court on Nov. 15. The decision by U.S. District Judge Howard R. Lloyd whether or not to hear the case, and the arguments relating to federal jurisdiction, principally the First Amendment, is scheduled for Jan. 3, 2012 in San Jose. The appeal delayed a State Superior Court hearing scheduled for Nov. 16 in the Santa Cruz County Court House, which seem to cool down the militant rhetoric of preparing for an eminent, forcible eviction of the Occupiers of San Lorenzo Park. The appeal to federal court of what Santa Cruz City Attorney John Barisone described as a “routine public nuisance suit” has also gained the web-based attention of Occupy movements across the country. It is a big question, after all: Does the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly include OSC?
Our World, Under Water?
New and improved Climate Action Plan gets community and city support, but still has some critics A bicycle-drawn rowboat glided down Pacific Avenue on Tuesday, Jan. 24, with a school of human jellyfish, anemones and a sea turtle dancing along behind. The aquatic parade, which snaked along the canals of Downtown Santa Cruz, was an “Underwater Tour” that depicted what the city may look like someday if the city does not take all possible actions to mitigate climate change and its impacts.
There’s a Path From Me to You…
We begin the week on Thursday, with Venus joining Uranus in Aries. Venus represents money, resources and values. Uranus “creates the revolution” and needed new archetypes. And Aries initiates “all things new.” The energies are building for a showdown (breakdown) in March. The keynote at this time is preparation.Search Good Times
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Lighted Boat Parade 2011
Photo slideshow. Judging cetegories: Sailing, Power, People Powered, Commercial/Sponsored Vessels, Best of Theme and Best Music. Enchanted Harbor at Santa Cruz Dec. 3, 2011 Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Harbor Yacht Club. . . . . . . ..
Losing Baggage
Pam Houston’s genre-breaking book takes readers on adventures far and deep within You could say it was prescient that Pam Houston began writing her latest book on an airplane. But then, the award-winning short-story writer and novelist often writes on airplanes—and when she started writing these vignettes she had no idea they’d morph into a novel. “I was invited to an evening called ‘Unveiled’ at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison, where a group of us was going to read new, untested work,” said Houston. “I took the assignment so literally that I wrote the first 12 chapters on the plane and in the hotel the night before. After I read, Richard Bausch said, ‘Write 100 of them, and that’s your next book.’”
Hamadi Organics
Hamadi Organic’s tagline, “Tested on Actresses, Never on Animals,” says two important things about the hair care line off the bat: one, it’s ethical and, two, it’s good enough for the stars. Indeed, the likes of Scarlett Johansson, James Franco and Eva Mendes rely on Hamadi creator Jamal Hammadi to tame and style their tresses with his eco-friendly concoctions. (And, yes, the creator's name has two m's and the company's name only has one.)
What is your idea of a romantic date in Santa Cruz?
Burgers Your Way
Loma Prieta Winery
Last week I wrote about a red blend for Valentine’s Day, but as the year’s most romantic day approaches and you’re still looking for something downright voluptuous, then Loma Prieta’s Petit Sirah fits the bill.
Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweethearts
Camper Van Beethoven returns to Santa Cruz for two intimate Crepe Place shows Long before the Simon Cowell era, the members of the alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven were the Santa Cruz musicians who had “made it.” Adorning their lively, all-over-the-map sound with an endearing sense of wit, they wooed the populace with a charmingly nonsensical ditty called “Take the Skinheads Bowling” (after all, isn’t it the angriest people who need a little constructive fun?) and a cover of Status Quo’s “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” from their most commercially successful album, 1989’s Key Lime Pie. With CVB’s 30th anniversary coming up next year, the band is playing a short run of smaller gigs—including two shows at The Crepe Place on Saturday, Feb. 11—to get warmed up for the release of its forthcoming record. The group recently began mixing down this as-yet-untitled album, the first we’ve heard from CVB since 2004’s New Roman Times. According to guitarist Greg Lisher, the band tried out a new approach to writing this time: “Back in the day, [vocalist/guitarist] David [Lowery] would bring his songs to us at rehearsal, and we would write our respective parts. So it was always pretty democratic in that sense, but it was all based on what David was bringing to the table.” For the new album, the band simply got together and came up with ideas on the fly: “Someone would throw something out, someone else would respond and someone else would play off of that.”
Karaoke in Santa Cruz
Let your star shine with karaoke in Santa Cruz Boardwalk BowlBocci’s CellarBritannia ArmsFog BankHenfling’s Tavern & GrillHindquarter Bar and GrillI Love SushiMalone’s GrilleMichael’s on MainSir Froggy’s PubTrout Farm Inn
Behind the Break-up
Authors Maira Kalman and Daniel Handler open up On a Bookshop Santa Cruz wall, notes are taped above a pile of books whose covers depict a luminous white coffee mug suspended against a red backdrop. “We broke up because I’m not a gorgeous Australian who lives in China. Accents, right?” reads one note. The words, “We broke up because...” are printed on pages of a notepad near the shop’s display, prompting book shop visitors to share their break up stories. The notes correspond directly with the title of the books piled below: “Why We Broke Up,” by Daniel Handler (a.k.a. popular children’s author Lemony Snicket).
